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Bridging the Gap Between the Physical and the Virtual in Tabletop Role Playing Games: Exploring Immersive VR Tabletops

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Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14383))

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Abstract

Throughout the history of tabletop role playing games (TTRPG), the image most associated with playing are people sitting around a table with notebooks, pencils, and occasionally map grids and miniatures. The Internet, however, especially in the post COVID-19 era, has enabled new ways of distance play and the emergence of virtual tabletop applications. In this work we explore the potential of immersive VR to support remote TTRPG play through a user study based on an immersive VR virtual tabletop application prototype. Using this virtual tabletop as an incentive, we invited 11 TTRPG players to offer their views and perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of VR to support gameplay. We focus on key TTRPG characteristics and motivations, including shared imagination, creativity and sociality, to inform the design of immersive VR tabletop applications tailored to the needs of remote TTRPG play.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografou, Greece

    Anastasios Niarchos, Akrivi Katifori, Pantelis Sakellariadis & Yannis Ioannidis

  2. Athena Research and Innovation Center, Marousi, Greece

    Dimitra Petousi, Akrivi Katifori & Yannis Ioannidis

Authors
  1. Anastasios Niarchos
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  2. Dimitra Petousi
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  3. Akrivi Katifori
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  4. Pantelis Sakellariadis
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  5. Yannis Ioannidis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akrivi Katifori .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

    Lissa Holloway-Attaway

  2. University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    John T. Murray

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Niarchos, A., Petousi, D., Katifori, A., Sakellariadis, P., Ioannidis, Y. (2023). Bridging the Gap Between the Physical and the Virtual in Tabletop Role Playing Games: Exploring Immersive VR Tabletops. In: Holloway-Attaway, L., Murray, J.T. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14383. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47655-6_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47655-6_30

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-47654-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-47655-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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